We started a few years ago, we are feed the wild game around our area and not hunting them at this time. Every morning I through out some chicken scratch for the birds. Currently have about 50 quail and over 100 doves that come in. We are also going to put an auto feeder at the stock pond to feed the mule deer and the wild life that come in to water. This way we will have them used to coming in, then when the sh&% hit the fan we know where the meat is.

For now we eat what we raise on the ranch.

By the way there were hundreds of geese heading North. Some of the largest numbers I have seen the last few years.

Put out a salt block, it will bring in the deer and other game. I put out feed for the squirrels, they are more than fat enough and they have multiplied by at least two fold. Rabbits also seem to like the food.

If I lived in a more rural area a couple of salt blocks would have to go into my preps. Question: are ground squirrels ok to eat? They got almost all my Apricots agin this year. Put two rat traps in the tree this year they loved the cheese and peanut butter. But never set off the traps,do I need special traps?

donba wrote:If I lived in a more rural area a couple of salt blocks would have to go into my preps. Question: are ground squirrels ok to eat? They got almost all my Apricots agin this year. Put two rat traps in the tree this year they loved the cheese and peanut butter. But never set off the traps,do I need special traps?

This gets away from game and more to pests but a 5 gallon bucket half filled with water and a peanut butter bait on the inside of the rim will attract mice, ground squirrels and such. When they fall in, they drown.

pW

Edited to add that a board ramp to allow them to get to the top of the bucket is helpful.

“It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent that survives. It is the one that is the most adaptable to change that survives.” Charles DarwinIמנא ,מנא, תקל, ופרסיאלוהים

Pedro wyoming wrote:This gets away from game and more to pests but a 5 gallon bucket half filled with water and a peanut butter bait on the inside of the rim will attract mice, ground squirrels and such. When they fall in, they drown.

pW

Edited to add that a board ramp to allow them to get to the top of the bucket is helpful.

I didn't even need the bait! Can't tell you how many chipmunks I accidentally drowned, because I left the 5-gallon bucket that I used for weed and rock hauling out in the rain. Stupid chippies would climb up, fall in, and I'd find their drowned carcasses the next time I went out to the garden. Guess they just couldn't resist checking out what MIGHT be in that big white bucket! Curiosity doesn't only kill cats...